Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

Truck looks damn good! I wish mine looked as good as that!

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

Nice stance sir:metal: Obviously, I'm a fan of the Sport wheels, and I think they look good on any 88-98. But I really do like those rallies -- something about the fresh gray powdercoat with the blue/white paint scheme. I guess what I'm saying is you can't go wrong either way.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

I really appreciate the kind words. My buddy couldn't get any free time Friday so it's due an alignment in the morning. He's one of my oldest pals and does my alignments with me in the truck to compensate for the driver's weight affecting the alignment. Thorough, he is. I usually do my own alignments on the older trucks which use shims, but these newer ones with the control arm eccentrics are such a pain to do at home.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

I really like the two tone light blue & white with the rallies, it give it a classic feel. Good look'n truck.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

I started phase two of the project today, the engine.

The previous owner overheated the engine badly a few times and since then it's always burned a ton of oil and uses coolant. I'm sure the headgaskets are leaking. I started keeping track and it uses one quart of oil every 300 miles. All my life, I've heard the oldtimers say that an engine that's been overheated will burn oil because the rings lose tension and collapse. I guess that's what's happened here.

I looked at building an engine for it and priced all the machine work and parts from various places. How frustrating that can be. Fortunately, I have a good buddy that works at a GM dealership in the parts department who really cut me a close deal.

This is what I ordered through him. It's coming from the main Texas warehouse tomorrow.

http://paceperformance.com/images/F27944197.gif

He sliced me a better deal than the mail order houses would and it feels much better to buy locally when possible.

Now to start saving for the ancillary stuff that I'll need...

• oil
• oil filter
• cam break in additive
• water pump
• plug wires
• thermostat
• hoses
• belt tensioner
• spark plugs
• intake gaskets

This is strictly a pay as I go project so I get to bite a bit off the list every two weeks when I get paid. I'm not touching my savings or using a credit card. I actually don't even own a credit card. It sucks to see everyone hemorrhage money on their projects while I keep whittling away on mine a hundred bucks at a time, but such it life in my world.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

I love this truck!

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

I can relate to spending $100-$200 at a time on a truck, or struggling for a couple months to save up $400...it sucks sometimes, but it for sure beats spending money you don't have.

So is that just a stock 87-95 TBI 350? Stock cam and heads?

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

JB, thanks for the words. It's comforting to know that there are others in the same boat as I am with the money deal.

On the engine, yes, it's a bone stock OEM replacement 350, just like the one in the truck now. I'll do some powdercoating on the various engine parts to spruce up the looks a bit and will ceramic coat the exhaust manifolds. Other than that, it will be all factory spec.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

I can see where you'd be partial to a blue and white short bed truck. I've thought many times how I'd like to have yours.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

im the same way,i dont have a credit card so i couldnt use it for my truck even if i wanted to. truck looks good, great stance
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Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

You know the funny thing is, this truck burns oil so bad that I save the used oil from my Honda oil changes and pour it into the truck. I've never seen a small block burn so much oil and not smoke very badly. Every tank of gas I have to pour a quart in. That new 350 is going to be real nice.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

Cool stace. My 96 original 5.7 goes through 1 quart every 2500-3000 miles or every 13 work days. I had to up my oil changes from every 5k miles to 3k now since it just rolled over 300k miles. If only mine was a cool shorty like yours but its clean and runs good..
Cant wait for you to get all the new parts, Have fun.......

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

Well it's a slow news day but I did get to stop by the dealership on my way home from work this morning.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project056.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project057.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project058.jpg

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

Clean truck, it looks like a fun project.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

I wouldn't call that slow news! There is something extremely rewarding about freshening up a TBI truck engine.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

Its always nice to have a shiney new smallblock in a crate!

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

While I'm waiting for the money tree to bear fruit, I went ahead and started detailing some parts.

First step is to gather the greasy parts and some cheap dollar store oven cleaner.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project059.jpg

Cleaned, bead blasted and powdercoated semi gloss black. There will be a lot of this as I go through this phase of the project.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/9308f10f.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/a2fafbb4.jpg

I took the fan clutch and soda blasted it clean.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/bdcf9059.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/c29753f8.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/f1777be0.jpg

Cleaned fan clutch, powdercoated fan, cleaned bolts and loctite then reassemble.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/26a4530d.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/2c332c2c.jpg

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

this build is getting awesome now, love the lowered stance and can't wait for some more tear down and painted up parts.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

You must know a good powdercoat man who works really quickly :lol:

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

He does okay, but he's a grouchy bastard.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

lmao :)

looking good Tx Firefighter
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Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

I plugged away on a bunch of little details today.

My order came from Summit. I tried to buy all quality parts. Felpro and Stant are still made right here where they belong in the USA. The belt tensioner is made in Canada.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project060.jpg

Fortunately, I had an extra intake manifold in my parts pile so I coated it and used it instead of the greasy original one. The thermostat and housing showed signs of previous owners lack of craftsmanship.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project061.jpg

New Stant Super Stat and Felpro Printoseal neoprene gasket.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/965e62dc.jpg

Everything all installed. Some of the parts I powdercoated, some I just cleaned up.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project062.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project063.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project064.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project065.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project066.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...project067.jpg

I've got to look around and find some new studs and nuts for my exhaust manifolds. The old stuff is pretty beat up. It's gonna take about half a day to repair all the mess and get them back where they ought to be.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

So that's what my engine looks like under 19 years of grime...

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

Except mine has the crappy serpentine setup and yours has the good one.

Re: Refreshing my daily driver
 

Doing some fine work there sir. Love all the little engine details. Great looking truck so far.